'Will stall flight of youth abroad': Bhagwant Mann takes oath as Punjab CM

Sanjeev Singh Bariana and Aparna Banerjee
Tribune News Service
Khatkar Kalan, March 16

AAP leader Bhagwant Mann was on Wednesday sworn in as the 28th Chief Minister of Punjab at a ceremony thronged by tens of thousands of people at martyr Bhagat Singh’s village here.

Promising to fight unemployment and corruption in the state, Mann said, “We will stall the flight of students to foreign lands for quality education and job security. We will reform our education system to suit innovations in the job sector.

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“Ours is a long journey to usher in agriculture reforms, improve hospitals, transform the education system and end unemployment. The work will start from today itself. We will not waste even a single day. We are already late by 70 years.”

He was the only one to take the oath at the event where many people in the crowd and on the dais sported turbans and dupattas in yellow — the “Basanti” colour often associated with Bhagat Singh. Mann paid floral tributes at the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh’s museum and memorial. The 48-year-old former comedian was administered the oath of secrecy and allegiance by Governor Banwarilal Purohit. Mann ended the oath that he took in Hindi with the slogan “Inquilab Zindabad”.

“We are beginning from here as we are now free in real sense. All previous governments in the past 70 years have blatantly ignored the vision and dreams of our martyrs,” he said.

All newly elected MLAs were present. Arvind Kejriwal and ministers from his Delhi cabinet, including Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, attended the event in yellow turbans. Chief secretary Anirudh Tewari conducted the proceedings of the event.

Mann asked his party workers to do their work honestly and be polite with people. “Even our opponents are our own people. We will show them all respect. Don’t use harsh words against anybody, including on the social media,” he said. He appreciated Kejriwal for bringing the party to the national level after a long struggle.

Family flies in from US

• Bhagwant Mann’s son Dilshan Mann (17) and daughter Seerat Mann (21) flew in from the US to attend the swearing-in ceremony. His ex-wife said she always prayed for his victory.

MLAs to take oath today

• AAP MLA Inderbir Singh Nijjar was sworn in as Protem Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday. He will administer oath to the newly-elected legislators on Thursday

Rousing welcome at Sectt

• Hundreds of Punjab Govt employees came out on the balconies of Civil Secretariat to welcome the new Chief Minister with claps. Never ever has any CM received such a resounding applause

Wave of ‘Basanti’

• Large number of people in crowd sported turbans and dupattas in yellow
• ‘Basanti’ colour is associated with martyr Bhagat Singh
• Kejriwal and ministers from Delhi too wore yellow turbans
• ‘Rang de Basanti’, an iconic song evoking Bhagat Singh’s sacrifice, played at venue
• Crowd raised ‘Inqlab Zindabad’ and ‘Bole So Nihaal’ slogans on the occasion